student handout
A WEIGHT LOSS PLAN THAT WORKS:
10 Tips to Keep You on Track
1. Drink at least 64 ounces of
water/day. You can cut calories by
substituting water for other calorie-
containing beverages. Drinking more
water will improve your body's ability
to process the food that you eat, and it
will help to keep your core tempera-
ture down during workouts, which
reduces your perceived exertion and
can keep you from mistaking thirst for
hunger.The ideal is to drink enough
water until your urine is pale yellow to
clear.
2. Eat a healthy breakfast every
day. When you wake up in the morn-
ing, you have most likely gone 8 hours
or more without eating.Your body
needs fuel. Skipping breakfast can cause
as much as a 40% drop in your basal
metabolic rate. Even a workout may
not make up for this drop in metabo-
lism.What's a healthy breakfast? Try
eating at least 2 or 3 different foods.
Include foods that are good sources of
complex carbohydrates and protein.An
example includes: whole grain cereal
with skim milk and sliced fruit.
3. Eat at least 3 fruit servings/day
(whole fruit, not juice). Eating a
piece of fruit is more satisfying than
drinking juice, contains fiber and takes
longer to consume. Fiber can decrease
the amount of calories your body
absorbs. It can also help with satiety.
4. Eat at least 4 vegetable serv-
ings/day (1 cup raw, 1/2 cup
cooked = 1 serving). Vegetables are
very low in calories. Non-starchy veg-
etables contain only 25 calories/serving.
About a 1/2 of a cup of starchy vegeta-
bles contain about 80 calories/serving.
Both are rich in vitamins, minerals, fiber
and phytonutrients.
5. Avoid eating until you are
"over-stuffed". If we just paid atten-
tion to our hunger and satiety cues,
there wouldn't be a need to count
calories. Don't allow yourself to get too
hungry. Choose healthy foods and eat
slowly to the point you are comfort-
able/full, rather than guilt-ridden and
unable to move.
Spinning student handouts are the intellectual property of Mad Dogg Athletics, Inc. They are provided to Johnny G Spinning
Instructors and authorized Spinning facilities with permission to photocopy and distribute to Spinning class
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6. Avoid eating foods that contain
partially hydrogenated or hydro-
genated fats as much as possible.
This includes virtually all deep-fried
foods.These fats have been altered and
are used for consistency, preservation
and economy reasons.They may cause
negative reactions in the body such as
undesirable cholesterol levels and gas-
tro-intestinal cancers. Most foods that
contain these types of fats are usually
highly processed, low in fiber, high in
calories and low in nutrition.You need
to read the ingredient labels to deter-
mine if a food contains hydrogenated
fats. Following this tip will drastically
improve your ability to make healthier,
less processed lower calorie food
choices, thus reducing caloric intake.
7. Eat desserts, sweets and
unhealthy snack foods less than
once/day and limit the serving to
200 calories or less. There's nothing
wrong with having the stuff that just
tastes good once in awhile, but most of
us do this several times a day with no
contemplation. By indulging in tempting
foods less often, we can reduce our
cravings and cut calorie intake (required
for weight loss). If you think about it
and still want the tempting food, then
at least eat a reasonable portion.
8. Avoid snacking after dinner.
How much time passes between the
time you eat dinner and the time you
go to bed? Do you really need that
extra snack to get through the night?
Most snacking after dinner is in the
form of absent-minded eating in front
of the television. By skipping night
snacking, you can cut calories, go to bed
feeling like you managed your eating
well and increase the chance that you
will wake up hungry and want to eat
breakfast.
9. Avoid drinking alcohol as much
as possible. Alcohol at 7 calories/gram
(just slightly less than fat) adds calories,
enhances the taste of food and increas-
es the chances that you may eat more
or make poorer choices. Many people
negate the calorie deficit that they have
been working on all week in just one
night of drinking.You don't have to
swear off drinking to get results, but
think twice before you do. If you must
drink, do it in moderation.
10. Exercise more than you were
before you started trying
to lose weight. Don’t think that the
same amount of exercise will get better
results just because you are dieting.You
can lose weight by cutting calories and
increasing activity. If those 10 miles
becomes 12 or 15 or 18 a week your
results will come more quickly with
enhanced fitness.
* Keep track of your progress:
1.Write down your goals.
2. Create a plan
(with the help of a Spinning instructor
or personal trainer if necessary).
3.Track how well you are sticking to
your plan. If your plan is
unreasonable, scale it back. If you are
not getting results - bump up the vari-
ety, frequency, intensity and/or duration
of workouts.
* Measure your progress.
Don't just track your weight. Have
measurements taken or go through a
body composition test.Test your fit-
ness.This can be technical such as going
through a VO2max test in an exercise
physiology lab, or simply timing how
long it takes you to walk a mile.
Typically when you start an exercise or
weight loss program, your fitness will
improve first.Weight loss and inch loss
will come second.A reduction in calo-
ries combined with a well-rounded
exercise program can create a dramatic
difference in tape measurements, mus-
cle tone and appearance without huge
losses in weight.
For more information,
visit www.spinning.com.
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